Criminal Defense Attorney Mike Kelly recently called into the local radio station 97.1 The Ticket to discuss the topic of school crimes and expulsions. The call was in reference to the fight that broke out between two local high school hockey teams, Brother Rice, and Catholic Central.
As an attorney that deals with juvenile law and school offenses, Mike Kelly expressed concern over the future of these students who potentially face expulsion as a result of their actions. You can listen to the full segment below.
Mike in Northville, hi Mike.
Mike: Hey guys, how are you doing?
Ok Mike.
Mike: So, I’m actually a defense attorney for students, like you’re talking about, so my name is Michael Kelly, I’m an attorney at Kelly & Kelly in Northville, and I travel all over Michigan, handling these types of cases, including Catholic Central, and some of the other public schools around here. And I tell you, it’s just a totally different climate that high school is today than it was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, and that is that everybody is recording these things, so administrators have to hold someone accountable, because they are being held accountable. Certain things like this, like an assault, well this is a crime! And the school has an obligation to then share that with law enforcement. And when I read the letter from Brother Rice, you know, and I can even see that see that there is some of the responsibility, in part, by the acknowledgement that they can’t comment. Now for the respect of student privacy rights. Cause they have rules that they have to be following right now, while this is still being investigated. So, even a bunch of people have been saying “boys will be boys”. That’s when we were in High School, back then, yeah, sure, now it’s a totally different environment.
So, Michael, I mean, so you know what I was talking about at the beginning, about how there’s fights in high school, and they take place, and maybe somebody got suspended, and that was the end of it.
Mike: How reminiscent is that, right?
Yeah, and it’s all changed, and here we are, in America in 2019. You say your job is to generally defend the students, is that correct?
Mike: As an advocate.
Okay.
Mike: And what I do in that means, when you are talking about an ‘expulsion’. Permanently removing the kid from the place of his education. You can still be in the community. {inaudible} And so you are removing these kids from, for some of them, the best place for them to gain that experience, that maturity, you know, the laws have already been changed back in August of 2017, called “Restored Practices”, to try and keep kids in school, and not have so many people get expelled, because of those problems. So, I represent kids who are trying to stay in school and offering solutions {inaudible}. Maybe sitting these families down, through the school, they have their representatives from each school, hash this out, and bury it? To avoid more backlash, and we can all move forward.
Yeah. Mike, did you hear the student from the recent graduate from Brother Rice, saying that the kid’s life is ruined.
Mike: It’s not.
Yeah, I didn’t think so either. I get why you’d feel that way.
Mike: There’s an academic blemish for an expulsion, that can certainly affect scholarships, good for academics, where you go for higher education, things like that, but like all things, ‘time can heal all wounds’, and if this one’s isolated, you can move forward. You know, and they try to do that, that’s their choice.
Mike, look, I think about terrible decisions I made in high school, and in college, with no real, serious ramifications. Embarrassing things, but at the end of the day, survived it, grew up, matured, that kid’s life, I can’t say it enough, I think it was Bradly, his life isn’t over. Probably feels like it at the time, but it’s not.
